When I was younger, I remember reading and hearing stories about Joseph – the ‘dreamer’ of the bible. Of all the characters in the bible, I was always drawn to Joseph. I was inspired by his resistance to temptation, as well as his ultimate pay-off when he came to an elevated position at a later point in his life.
As one of six children, I think I also identified with the punishment he took from his siblings – mostly due to his firm placement as the ‘favorite’ in the family. I digress…
Joseph drew one hell of a reputation for the dreams he had, as well as his ability to interpret them. It was his divine connection with dreams that allowed him to rise from the ashes of his exile and find himself in one of the greatest positions of power in one of the greatest civilizations of all time; Egypt.
These days, I don’t see a lot of people living their dreams – or having much of one to begin with. Survival seems to be the name of the proverbial ‘life’ game a lot more than living, and that mentality has never felt right when I tried to put it on, or fit in the usual mold of others, rather than my own pursuits.
When you have a bucket full of crabs and one tries to escape, what do you think happens? The other crabs pull it back inside of the bucket. Call it nature – call it destiny, I think it’s a pretty accurate reflection of life as most people know it.
The world isn’t designed to give you what you want. Rather, it’s designed to treat you like a human piece of livestock; fattened for the slaughter and fully maximized to deliver the most profits to the companies, governments and agencies that have learned how to milk every last ounce of life, dollar and shred of the human spirit from those that breathe.
When is the last time you did something you loved? I mean, really loved?
When is the last time you felt alive to the point where you didn’t think/care if the next breath you took was your last?
When is the last time you felt loved? I mean, loved. Loved. LOVED.
Every day, I battle with a pile of obligations that seem to stack up on my proverbial desk. Oftentimes, client emails/calls overshadow my own passion projects, and I find myself responding to the never-ending ‘honeydew’ list rather than doing things I love, such as writing this blog.
The older I get, the more I realize how important it is to remember the dreams that I had as a child, because I look at the ‘adult’ world and realize how empty and hollow it is when you live it and play by the rules. Some of the greatest moments of my life have been during times where the odds felt against me – or when I found myself straying far from the ‘norm’.
There are a lot of things I wish I could tell a younger version of myself, which is one of the reasons I often share my thoughts with anybody who cares to listen. One of them would be to listen to my own heart and listen to what it wanted – I mean, really wanted.
If the answer didn’t reveal itself right away, I would encourage the ‘younger me’ to find a way to wait and listen until the answer revealed itself.
When I got fired from Expensify (EXFY Stock…) I took a year to visit Bali, Indonesia. At the time, I didn’t really know why I felt compelled to go. However, I went and it was one of the best things I’ve ever experienced in life.
Over there, I disconnected enough from the rigor mortis of the american (I’ll capitalize it when this country earns it) dream to realize there was more to life than chasing the almighty dollar, having the latest thing or even having a fat retirement account.
Over there, I broke bread and smoked Gudang Garam’s with the locals while drinking some of the best coffee I’ve had in my life. I saw life through a different lens, and it made me want to come back to the states and live in a different way than I ever had; from the heart, instead of the brain and the wallet.
After a year, I came back to the states with $22 in my bank account, which is enough to buy 2 shares of EXFY as of this morning. I remember feeling empty financially, but like I had travelled the world to unlock the ‘master plan’ for my life; the blueprint which would lead me to living the way I dreamed of living, and having everything I ever desired from life.
Today, I live that dream. You can, too.
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